Aircraft

At the Avidyne press conference on Tuesday, company founder and CEO Dan Schwinn said that he hasn’t heard any customers complain that the new Avidyne R9 lacked features-it is, in fact, loaded with new capabilities-but he said that he had heard a few potential customers wishing that it cost less. With this mind, Schwinn formally […]

The Yuneec E430 electric light sport airplane has made an appearance at EAA AirVenture, and is scheduled to fly for the crowd at least once before the end of the show this weekend. Built in China and shipped to the U.S. last week, the two-place high-wing composite aircraft is powered by a 40 kilowatt (approximately […]

At EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh, Cirrus updated the status of its Vision jet program; as well as outlining a series of recent global partnerships. Cirrus co-founder Dale Klapmeier addressed the thorny issue of the jet head-on. For the last few months, his brother and co-founder of the company Alan Klapmeier has been approaching potential investors […]

The new Beechcraft King Air C90GTx will have a higher maximum takeoff weight, and winglets to cut drag, so it will carry more payload farther and faster. And the “x” package can be retrofitted to many existing airplanes in the King Air 90 family. The new version increases the maximum takeoff weight of the King […]

On the first day of AirVenture Cessna announced that its 162 SkyCatcher LSA had achieved ASTM certification. It’s equipped with a 100-hp Continental engine and the Garmin G300 integrated flat-panel avionics platform. The airplane will be assembled in China of U.S.-made components and then shipped back the United States for final assembly and delivery. Cessna […]

Continental announced at Oshkosh that is had earned certification for fadec control on its big turbocharged engines, and that it had completed testing and knows how to qualify all of its engine models to burn 94UL unleaded avgas. The company also announced a number of price cuts and incentives for factory engines and certain replacement […]

Lycoming flew a Lancair Evolution to Oshkosh, powered by its new TEO-540-EXP iE2 engine. Advantages of the 350-hp engine include single-lever operation, automated preflight safety checks, automotive start simplicity and reduced pilot workload. The iE2 system also allows use of alternative fuels and promises increased fuel efficiency and reliability. The iE2 system was announced at […]

Piper made its first appearance at AirVenture under new ownership and under the stewardship of new CEO Kevin Gould and President John Becker. Now owned by Imprimis, Piper unveiled sweeping plans to expand its product line globally and moved to “reintroduce” two of its training airplanes, the Warrior and the Seminole, in support of the […]

It was Sunday morning and time to head home. I had been fishing in British Columbia over the previous four days with some of my friends. There were four airplanes in our group, my T-tail Piper Lance II, a Bellanca Aries, a Cessna 210 and a Piper Dakota. We were located about 70 miles southwest […]

Part of my rationale, when I plunked my entire financial nest egg down to buy my 1977 Grumman Cheetah, over 10 years ago, was that I was buying a durable good. An asset that would probably hold or increase its value over time, so that if I ever needed some extra cash, I could sell […]